Feeding issue**Help

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tangor

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Hello everyone, my tangor is almost 3mths old and he is a picky eater i think. He doesnt eat his crickets alive, when i bought them in the can at petco he loves them. He loves the mealworms, and would probably prefer just to eat them. He rarely touches vegs and fruits. Ive tried all the greens from collard to mustard greens, mangos, blueberries, everything and he doesnt ever touch anything besides his mealworms and dead crickets. Is he just a picky eater? Is this ok? Let me know thanks guys:)
 

Beardednoob

BD.org Addict
Mealworms are never a great idea when it comes to feeding bearded dragons. The thicker exterior shell of a mealworm prevents the proper absorption of vital nutrients, which a mealworm is also lacking. The other downfall to mealworms is that they can cause impaction in dragons. Impaction or blockage in the intestinal tract or digestive system is most likely one of the most common illnesses in dragons. Thus feeding softer bodied feeders is always the best idea.

With the crickets ensure that they are the right size feeders for your dragon as eating crickets which are too large for them can also cause impaction and or paralysis. I have had my dragons completely ignore crickets sometimes and other times eat them, some times they wont touch crickets unless they are dusted. Typical odd behaviors of our little pets. Variety can help with this, or perhaps tasting mealworms has shun his interest in the not so great tasting crickets.

With the salad, it is not uncommon for a 3 month dragon to completely disregard it's salad. There are some tricks to try though. One, try dropping pieces from a distance so they seem as if they had movement. Movement can spark interest. Which leads to number two, put feeders in with the salad. Number three, the dragon may not know what they are missing, take a small piece and slide it into your dragons mouth (gracefully) starting from a corner and working your way to the front. Once in the front your dragon generally will open it's mouth giving it a taste. I wouldn't try this too much as dragons can catch on to this and purposely not open their mouths or possibly develop a lack of interest to the salad.

At 3 months a dragons main intake (80-90%) will be feeders, if they don't eat their salad at this age don't fret. Once a dragon gets 1.5 years this should change, their diet interests will lean heavily toward salad items and put live feeders down to 10-20% of their diets.

Are you dusting the feeders and or salad? What are you using for a UV source?
 

tangor

Member
Original Poster
Thanks for the information. But now i feel bad that i have been feeding him mealworms...what kind of worms am i suppose to feed him?? what kind of worms have the best nutrition for him? Yeah i dust his worms and crickets everyday, every feeding. Is that ok? I will try your ideas with the salad items, hopefully this will help. I use "Repti Glo" 10.0 uvb lights, and "Zoo Med" 100w Basking light. Thanks for your help:)
 

Chair76

Hatchling Member
if she eats dead crickets then try getting them freeze dried crickets. they also like silk, repti worms, pheonix worms (repti and phoenix worms ar very similar) and super worms if your beardie is over 16 inches long. hornworms are also very good to.
 

Chryss

Hatchling Member
My Beardie got very lazy as he wouldn"t eat live food either - Now I have to hand feed him everyday and I use the canned crickets and canned superworms which he loves both. Also, to get him to eat his greens, I put a lil squash baby food on it - he loves the baby food. :( He has me trained for sure.
 

GFdragon

Member
I believe silkworms are the worms with the most benefits out there. They can be fed as a staple I've heard (although I'd still stick to crickets at least partially, and of course your veggies). Here's a link to a great beardie website that lists all the information you'll need when it comes to your beardies food needs.

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/home.html

Oh, and don't worry about the veggie thing right now. There is a bacteria that we get from our mother's milk, but dragons get that from eating prey items and other (grosser) things.This bacteria is what allows them to digest plant matter. So, eventually he will take an interest in greens.
 

Beardednoob

BD.org Addict
The ReptiGlo UV lights have had some issues in this area before. If you get a chance replace it with a ReptiSun 10.0. Don't fret on the mealworms too much, if he doesn't have any adverse health effects form this like impaction then everything is fine. I couldn't seem to do anything right when I brought my first dragon home. It is a learning process which we all take.

As for the worms, Silkworms are a great staple feeder, it is however an expensive feeder. Reptiworms/Phoenix Worms make great staple feeders too as they have an ideal calcium to phosphorus ratio. Reptiworms/Phoenix Worms are less expensive then Silkworms but, they do not grow as big.

To get an accredited dusting schedule and more information regarding feeders and food items please refer to this page >> http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
It is best to save it in your favorites for future reference. :wink:
 
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